This invention relates generally to holiday ornaments and, in particular, to ornamental enclosures having multiple functions.
In recent years suspended ornaments for Christmas and other occasions have become increasingly ornamental, complex and expensive. One popular method for making Christmas ornaments has included the steps of imprinting a decorative scene or floral pattern on a heat-shrinkable film, and then heat-shrinking the film onto a spherical ball of glass, plastic or the like. While ornaments made with this method are quite attractive, conventional shrink-wrap techniques impose some restraints on the process and create some undesirable visual effects. Generally, the processing equipment requires that the shrink-wrap material be imprinted with a pattern over less than its complete surface. The unprinted edge portions may be smokey in color and irregular in shape, creating an undesirable visual effect.
It is one of the objects of the present invention, therefore, to provide a decorative ornament which consists of a plurality of overlapping parts which serve to mask the visually undesirable portions of the shrinkwrap material on ornaments made with the foregoing process.
To further enhance the desirability and functionality of decorative ornaments, a spring driven music transducer element or generator has been incorporated into the design of the aforesaid multi-part decorative ornament. While small mechanical music generators have been used in music boxes, toys, picture albums, jewelry boxes and many other applications, the incorporation of such a generator in a suspended holiday ornament provides an unexpected degree of appeal, since the use of the musical element in the manner taught in the present invention creates a rotation of the ornament around its vertical axis. This allows the entire scene imprinted on the ornament to be displayed with musical accompaniment as an added benefit.
The incorporation of a musical generator into a holiday ornament is implemented in the present instance through the provision of a multi-part ornament construction which incorporates lightweight injection molded plastic parts, thus making it possible to create an overall structure which is light enough to be suspended from a tree or the like in the same manner as other ornaments. The assembly includes a main body of plastic made through an injection blow molding process and a pair of end caps which intermate with the main body in a snap fit. The small lightweight music generator is mounted on a plastic sound board which is enclosed between the main body and one of its plastic end caps, the winding shaft for the music box extending through the top of the upper end cap to form an engageable hook or eyelet for suspension of the ornament from above. A resilient latching feature is incorporated into the interlocking edges of the main body and the end caps. This latching construction combines with the inherent resilience of the injection molded plastic parts to provide generous dimensional tolerances that allow the manufacturer to provide the same element with or without the addition of a music generator and sounding board.
As a further object and advantage of the present invention an ornament is provided which has a plurality of lightweight, inexpensive and interchangeable parts so that a variety of ornamental configurations can be achieved with a minimum number of plastic injection molds. The versatility of the system for making multiple decorative patterns is, of course, enhanced through the use of shrink-wrap decorative films about the periphery of the ornament. While this has been done in the past on single piece ornaments, as noted above, the use of separable end caps with extended flanges in the present invention serves to cover the undesirable portions of the imprinted shrink-wrap material and enhance the overall appearance of the ornament.
Still a further object of the present invention is the provision of an ornament assembly which has a plurality of alternate physical configurations. By elimination of the bottom end cap the assembly may be used as a freestanding ornament for a shelf, mantel or the like and/or as a freestanding music box. Even greater versatility is achieved through use of the ornament as a gift container. As such, one embodiment of the invention employs releaseable latching elements on the mating edges of the main body portion and the top cap, allowing the ornament to be used as a container and to be opened and closed in the same manner as would a gift box. Once the gift is received and taken from the container, the container is reassembled and readily suspended or left freestanding as a musical ornament. Thereafter it may be used as an ornament every year as a reminder of the gift originally given.
Other objects and advantages of the invention will become apparent upon reading the following detailed description and the appended claims and upon reference to the accompanying drawings.